Weddings/Events

Budget Considerations You Need To Know While Wedding Planning

wedding budget considerations
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Wedding planner, designer, photographer and creative entrepreneur who helps curate epic events and sparks joy for clients through curated photography art. Let's hang and chat!

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4 Essential Wedding Planning Budget Considerations You Should Know About

wedding budget considerations

As things start to open up, the “Covid wedding” has a brighter outlook for the future. With a clearer picture, I wanted to share an update on budget considerations I think you should take while planning your wedding.

Make A Budget Early

Bride wearing bohemian style wedding dress and groom wearing black suit jacket portrait shot in front of their house after their backyard wedding ceremony
Photo by: Justin Jay

One of the first steps I encourage newly engaged couples take, is to start your wedding planning budget early on. Money can be an uncomfortable topic to discuss, but it’s beyond necessary. A budget helps drive so many other planning decisions. Guest count, venue, decor, attire, etc. If you’re unsure of where to start, contact your wedding planner who can give you realistic numbers to work with.

Be Prepared For Additional Fees

bride and groom cheers with champagne
Photo by: Alissa Noelle

Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but if you’ve previously reached out to vendors, prepare for an adjusted quote. Especially now that vendors are recovering from the shock, everyone will have extra protocols in place to protect them. This can look like extra clauses in your contracts, to extra fees for postponing, cancellations or even holding a date. Go over all of these thoroughly with your wedding planner to make sure everyone’s on the same page. Additionally, check out my blog post on managing your budget including how to handle hidden fees. Another hidden fee people don’t often think about is tipping their vendors and wait staff. Factor that into the budget early on and ask your planner for advice on how to go about it. We offer our clients a tipping guide to help direct them in this process.

Same Budget, Smaller Guest List

Intimate vineyard wedding ceremony at Roblar winery with 20 people
Photo by: Lauren and Jared Bowser

The small wedding trend is here to stay! If you’re considering chopping your guest list and moving forward with a more intimate wedding, you are not alone. The great thing with a smaller wedding is your budget can stretch so much further. The guest experience can be wildly expanded with personalized favors and welcome baskets. Or you can put more budget towards your dream floral arrangements. (For potentially even more savings, consider a weekday wedding).  

Grab Wedding Insurance

bride in lace wedding dress and cathedral length veil with groom in black suit and rust colored tie take a portrait shot in vineyard
Photo by: Rebecca Teresa Photography

Some venues may already require wedding insurance but even if they don’t, please consider getting coverage for your big day. Add padding to your wedding budget to cover this. Wedding Insurance is a great way to protect you and your wedding investments, just in case something happens. 

While weddings + events take on a new shape, the thing that will always remain is how wonderful it is gathering with those you love. So let’s take the stress out of it together. If you’re in the midst of planning your wedding and need some budgeting help, I created a FREE downloadable budget spreadsheet for you! Contact me on my homepage here, and let’s go through it line by line to plan you the greatest wedding of all time! 

Feathered Arrow Signature Kari Dirksen

LATTE OBSESSED, CHRONIC OVERACHIEVER, OUTDOOR GIRL, SUCKER FOR LIVE MUSIC, DONUT FANATIC, LIFE LONG GREY'S ANATOMY FAN + DOG MOM. 

Expert Party Planner, Podcaster, and Creative Entrepreneur.

I'm a creative entrepreneur at heart and have been running my business for over 10 years and have planned and executed over 150+ weddings. I'm an expert in this industry and care deeply about my clients and making sure they have the best experience. I just launched a podcast with my work wife, Gabby Pinkerton of Cause We Can Events, called Just Another Biz Podcast! Go check it out!

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Did you just get engaged and wondering how the heck you should budget for the big day? Download my free guide to help you lay out a budget and how to plan for your big day.  

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Planning epic celebrations + curating one of kind weddings since 2014. 
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